Could you give away 99% of what you own? Probably not, but that’s something Warren Buffett has promised recently. ”More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death” he wrote recently (pdf). “I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in [...]
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Save the West with undevelopment aid
Aid usually flows one way – the rich world attempting to sort out the problems of the poor. But what if you turn it on its head for a change? What if the developing world got to have a go? “We have been focusing our energy and resources on trying to solve our Developing World [...]
The world’s most secretive financial centres
The Tax Justice Network and Christian Aid have compiled a report on the world’s most secretive financial centres. Called the Financial Secrecy Index, it is a league table of banking opacity, showing which parts of the world are least likely to cooperate with international financial reform. Here’s the top five: Delaware, US Luxembourg Switzerland Cayman [...]
Robin Hoodies
The latest video from the Robin Hood Tax, and idea which seems to be on a roll. If you want to get more involved, tomorrow is a day of action for the campaign, including the invitation to give up 0.005% of your day. Now let’s see if any of the parties are brave enough to [...]
What the banking system has learned about derivatives: nothing at all
I was tempted to post that headline with a blank space underneath, but I’d better explain. Much of the crisis in the banking sector in 2008 was due to over-reaching in the trade of derivatives. The invention of derivatives allowed banks to transcend their actual assets, and then soar above them in layer after layer [...]
Why it pays to be male and white
More on these rather stunning figures from Mint. HT Phil.
The Robin Hood Tax
It’s an idea that comes around regularly, in various forms, but the Robin Hood Tax is the latest incarnation of a banking transaction tariff. They’ve kicked off a big round of campaigning this month, and here’s their promotional video explaining the idea.
Metro: London’s new and better bank
New banks are quite common in many parts of the world, but there hasn’t been a new bank on a British high street for decades. That’s about to change, with London’s Metro bank due to open to customers this week. With many large banks closing branches to cut costs, a stubborn tradition of closing early, [...]
Britain’s unequal society
The richest 10% of British people are 100 times wealthier than the poorest 10%, new government research shows. The household wealth of the top decile of UK society is £853,000, while the poorest hold just £8,800. The findings were published this morning by the National Equality Panel, an independent government body tasked with analysing the [...]
5 reasons why financial services are socially destructive
If you’ve been following British politics at all, you’ll know that we’re on the horns of a dillemma at the moment. The City of London, home to the financial services industry, is both hugely profitable and hugely destructive. It makes up a sizeable percentage of Britain’s GDP, but also cost us billions in bailouts. The [...]
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